Travis (secretary)

Travis (died 1559) was a Scottish courtier in France who served as secretary to Lord Bellamy. In 1559, the insane King Henry II of France called on the people at court to assemble in the courtyard, where he said that he would kill a traitor with his sword, and that the shadow of his sword would point him to the traitor. He then asked the courtiers if any of them had received Communion the night before, and Travis admitted that he had done so. Henry then asked him if he had fornicated or taken God's name in vain the night before, and, when Travis said that he had not, King Henry said that more people should be like Travis, and he then ran him through with his sword, publicly killing him. Travis' death convinced Dauphin Francis that his father's sanity had been lost.